In accordance with conventional television technology, cable network subscribers can tune to any of multiple broadcast and/or video on demand channels to select from multiple different television programs available on a shared communication link. For example, via input to a conventional set-top box, any of one or more subscribers can select and tune to the CNN™ (Cable News Network™) channel to view a news program; the one or more subscribers can select and tune to the ESPN™ (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) channel to view sports events; and so on. Thus, via selection of a respective television channel, a subscriber is able to select and playback many different types of scheduled or video on demand type of content.
In certain instances, a content sponsor assigned to a respective cable network channel may wish to make additional content available to a subscriber. The content may be interactive or custom in nature and/or may not lend itself to be transmitted in a standard broadcast in a video on demand or scheduled time slot. For example, in addition to making content available on a standard television channel, the content sponsor such as CNN™ may establish one or more different websites from which additional content (e.g., statistics, stock reports, business information, etc.) is available for viewing in an interactive manner by a subscriber.
In most situations, a user plays back broadcasted or video on demand content from a content sponsor on a display screen such as a television set (e.g., a large screen television). To view custom web content available from a respective content provider, the user typically must log on to a device other than the television set such as a respective computer, open a browser on the computer, and input the appropriate network address to the browser to retrieve the additional content. In this manner, via a computer device located at a disparate location with respect to the user's television, a subscriber can retrieve so-called over-the-top content to view additional content available from, for example, a CNN™ website.
Conventional technology includes so-called widgets (i.e., applications) that enable display of retrieved content on a display screen. For example, a subscriber can initiate execution of a weather widget via a respective set-top box. The weather widget retrieves information such as current weather conditions. The subscriber can activate a widget by viewing a listing of available widgets and then selecting a particular widget amongst the list for execution. When executed, the widget enables a respective subscriber to retrieve data such as display information and initiate display of the display information on a display screen.